Latest Developments in Hong Kong Arbitration at HKIAC

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Join AmCham Shanghai's Legal Committee on the Latest Developments in Hong Kong Arbitration at HKIAC on Thursday, December 5th from 8:30 - 10:00 AM at the AmCham Shanghai Conference Center.

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("Hong Kong Government") and the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China ("Supreme People's Court") have signed an Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("Arrangement").

Pursuant to the Arrangement, any party to arbitral proceedings seated in Hong Kong and administered by HKIAC or another qualified arbitral institutions may, before the arbitral award is issued, apply to the relevant Mainland Chinese courts for interim measures in relation to the arbitral proceedings in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of Mainland China. Such interim measures include preservation of assets, evidence and conduct. Equally, any party to arbitral proceedings in Mainland China may apply to the Hong Kong courts for interim measures pursuant to Hong Kong law – a remedy that is already available to parties to foreign-seated arbitral proceedings under Section 45 of the Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance. Interim measures available under Hong Kong law include injunctions and other interim measures to (i) maintain or restore the status quo pending determination of the dispute; (ii) take actions that would prevent, or refrain from taking actions that are likely to cause, current or imminent harm or prejudice to the arbitral process; (iii) preserve assets; or (iv) preserve evidence that may be relevant and material to the resolution of the dispute.

The Arrangement came into effect on 1 October 2019 and apply to applications for interim measures made to the relevant courts on or after that date. HKIAC has been confirmed by the Hong Kong Government and the Supreme People's Court as a qualified arbitral institution for the purposes of Article 2(1) of the Arrangement. HKIAC has received five applications for interim measures since the Arrangement came into force. All five applications were made in ongoing arbitrations seated in Hong Kong and administered by HKIAC under its Administered Arbitration Rules. In each of these cases, the applicant sought an ex parte order from the relevant Mainland Chinese court to preserve assets on the Mainland. In each case, HKIAC issued a letter to confirm acceptance of the case and to transfer the application to the relevant Mainland court and the applicant then submitted its application together with HKIAC's letter to the relevant court directly pursuant to the Interpretation and Application of the Arrangement dated 26 September 2019.

Out of the five applications, one was granted by the Shanghai Maritime Court on 8 October 2019. In that case, the application was submitted to HKIAC on 1 October 2019 and HKIAC issued its letter on 2 October 2019. The other four applications remain pending.

This seminar will be mainly focus on the practice related to the Arrangement. Matthew Gearing QC (Chairperson of HKIAC), Terence Wong (Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP) and other prominent in-house counsels will be speaking at this session. This seminar will be moderated by Brinton M. Scott, Chair of the Legal Committee.

Agenda

08:30 Registration

08:45 Welcome Remarks

08:50 Presentation by Matthew Gearing QC

09:10 Presentation by Terence Wong

09:30 Panel Discussion with Matthew Gearing QC, Terence Wong, Lyn Wu, and Jiangyu Zhu

09:55 Audience Q&A

10:00 Session Ends

Speakers

Matthew Gearing
Chairperson at HKIAC
Matthew Gearing QC is Global Co-Head of the International Arbitration Group and a partner of the Hong Kong office. He is widely regarded as a leading arbitration practitioner; in particular, he was appointed Queen's Counsel (England & Wales) in February 2014 and appointed Chairperson of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre in 2016.
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Terence Wong
Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, Shanghai Rep. Office
Terence focuses his practice on international commercial arbitration, with more than two decades of experience representing clients in high-stake, multi-front disputes in China. He helps clients resolve disputes via international arbitration as well as court proceedings and other dispute resolution mechanisms (such as mediation and expert determination). Recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” in China by Chambers Asia-Pacific, Terence is highly regarded by clients for providing “valuable legal diagnosis”. His experience spans a wide range of sectors such as manufacturing, energy and natural resources, international trade, infrastructure, power and utilities, retail, life science, etc. Terence is a Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and is listed in the Panel of Arbitrators with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), and the Shanghai International Arbitration Centre (SHIAC).
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Lyn Wu
Vice President - Asia Pacific Legal & Government Affairs at Owens Corning (China) Investment Co., Ltd.
Lyn Wu is currently Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs – Asia Pacific for Owens Corning (“OC”) based in Shanghai. She has over 15 years in-house experience working for FMC Corp.; Ingersoll Rand Co. Ltd.; and Dow Chemical in the Asia Pacific region. Before working as an in-house attorney, Lyn was in private practice in New York City and Hong Kong for 8 years, including 3 years with Mayer Brown JSM (formerly Johnson Stokes & Masters) practicing China IP law. Lyn is a frequent speaker on compliance and China Intellectual Property Protection.

Lyn obtained her law degree from both Wuhan University Law School, Wuhan, P.R.C. and Columbia University Law School, New York. She is a licensed New York attorney.
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Jiangyu Zhu
VP & Senior Counsel at Marriott International
Jiangyu joined Marriott Law Department in 2007 in Hong Kong and initially worked on Development projects. She transitioned to supporting Lodging Operations since 2010, where she is currently focused on asset management work and Operations work for hotels in Mainland China. Jiangyu is now based in Shanghai.

In her current role, Jiangyu leads her team to provide dedicated support to our asset managers, assisting them with structuring projects involving MI investments, as well as resolving disputes involving our owners and partners. Jiangyu will also be providing dedicated support to lodging operations and BMSC for the hotels in Mainland China. She and her team will serve hotel teams and above-property teams on legal issues relating to hotel operations, including data privacy, competition law issues, hotel contract issues, and hotel guest incidents. They will also be advising the BMSC team on initiatives, partnerships, sales contract-related issues and intellectual property infringement issues.

Before joining Marriott, Jiangyu worked at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on general corporate and capital market deals as an associate and then joined International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank) as an in-house legal counsel. Jiangyu received her law degree from Jilin University and her master of law degree from New York University School of Law and University of International Business & Economics School of Law. She is admitted to practice law in New York State and the PRC.
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